Germany's Schwing Stetter comes up with tower cranes

Schwing Stetter India, a subsidiary of Germany-based concrete machinery manufacturer Schwing Group of Companies, has entered the material handling industry by launching tower cranes.

This is in line with Chinese construction equipment major XCMG picking up a majority stake in the holding company of the German firm, and the Indian subsidiary's move to overcome the slowdown by expanding market and launching new products.

The cranes would be manufactured at the Chennai facility, and the target is to increase indigenisation to 85 per cent in the next 12-15 months, according to Anand Sundaresan, vice chairman and managing director, Schwing Stetter India Pvt Ltd.

"There is a good synergy in the cranes business, since we are into the construction equipment industry and the cranes are also in the same sector. We are hoping to have a huge demand for the product with the market expected to grow in the near future," said Sundaresan.

The company has launched two products - a five-tonne crane at Rs 60 lakh a unit, and a 6-tonne crane for Rs 90 lakh a unit. It would be playing only in the premium segment and the price difference with the local product would be 15 to 20 per cent.

The initial investment into the project is Rs 30-40 crore. While large parts of the crane would be manufactured in India, some of the components would be sourced from overseas. If there is a requirement for larger cranes, the company would import it from XCMG, he added.

The crane market is highly fragmented at present, with seven manufacturers, and the local players lead each of the regional markets. The current market size of the cranes in India is around 700 units and the company is expecting to cover 10 per cent of this in the next two years, said VG Sakthi Kumar, managing director, Schwing Stetter Sales and Services Pvt Ltd, its sales arm.